Toronto Maple Leafs star John Tavares could accomplish rare scoring feat

In his first season with the Toronto Maple Leafs, John Tavares could do something a Leafs player hasn’t done in over 70 years – lead the NHL in goals.

As one of the original six NHL teams, the Toronto Maple Leafs have a rich history. But despite their impressive lineage of great skaters, it has been over 70 years since Charlie Conacher became the last Leafs player to lead the NHL in goals. This summer, they signed John Tavares, who was a Maple Leafs fan as a kid. So perhaps it’s fitting he could etch his name in Leafs history by leading the NHL in goals.

Tavares is an outstanding offensive talent. Throughout his career, he has been a dominant goal scorer at every level, including the NHL. Among forwards with at least 500 games played, Tavares ranks sixth with 0.41 goals per game since the start of the 2009-10 season (his rookie year).

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There’s a decent list of players whose numbers took a noticeable decline once they stopped playing with him, including Matt Moulson, P.A. Parenteau, Brad Boyes, and Kyle Okposo.

Recently, Anders Lee and Josh Bailey have both seen their production increase while playing alongside Tavares as well.

With the Leafs, Tavares will have the pieces he never had with him in New York. Last season, he had Mathew Barzal as his second line center. As great as the rookie was, Tavares will have an even better center behind him (maybe even ahead of him) in Auston Matthews.

This should create some juicy matchups for him, especially at home, where Nazem Kadri‘s line will take on the top competition and open things up for Matthews and Tavares.

So far in training camp, Tavares has been flanked by Mitch Marner on his right side and Zach Hyman on his left side. The former is an outstanding talent who led the Leafs in points last season. Throughout Marner’s career, his linemates have seen their scoring totals improve because he’s an excellent playmaker.

Hyman is a skilled grinder, much like Tom Wilson of the Washington Capitals. Alex Ovechkin and Evgeny Kuznetsov thrived with Wilson because of his ability to retrieve pucks and create space for his linemates. In a similar manner, Hyman gives Tavares and Marner a linemate who can keep their offensive zone cycles going.

Truthfully, Hyman might just be keeping the seat warm for rookie forward Andreas Johnsson, who possesses a high hockey IQ and excels at the same things Hyman does (and does it better than him). Once head coach Mike Babcock realizes the Calder Cup hero can be trusted, he should quickly move up the depth chart.

Preseason games are mostly meaningless, but sometimes they can provide a glimpse if you watch the right things. Last season, James van Riemsdyk was a terrific net-front presence for the Leafs on the man advantage.

A big question going into training camp was who was going to take over for him. Tavares got the nod in his first preseason game and had immediate success.

This might just be a case of Babcock experimenting with his options, but the Leafs power play will be brutally effective if Tavares replaces JVR. Though it’s likely he’ll do way more than just score goals like the incumbent van Riemsdyk did, being around the net on Toronto’s man advantage should lead to even more goals from Tavares.

It will be very difficult for anyone to unseat Alex Ovechkin from his goal scoring throne, especially if he carries the momentum from hoisting his first Stanley Cup into the regular season. However, Tavares will be in a position to at least give him a good run for his money.

While Matthews is rightfully considered a serious threat to lead the league in goals, perhaps, as fans, we’re looking at the wrong center who plays in Toronto. Tavares has been a remarkably consistent and impressive goal scorer. He has what it takes to give the Leafs their first league leader in goals in over 70 years.